The woman lying in the middle of the sidewalk looked like she had been attacked with a weed whacker and then a baseball bat. Sav stopped dead in his tracks, with the rest of the band and Malvin piling up behind him as they clambered out of the van. "Oh...oh my God...Malvin, get one of the crew to call 911. NOW!"  He went to his knees next to the bloody figure and said in a low, soothing voice, "It's okay...you're all right. Help's coming." The woman opened her eyes as far as they would go and looked up at the
blonde-haired bass player and a tiny smile crossed her cracked lips. "Geez...I neary get beat to death and look who comes to my rescue. Nice to meet you, Sav," she replied in a voice that was barely above a whisper. Vivian pulled his lightweight jacket off and
placed it over the woman, while Malvin dug some towels out of the van and folded them quickly into a pillow.  When he lifted her head just enough to slip the towels underneath, his hand came away bloody. Hiding his expression of rage and disgust, he knelt down next to the woman and tucked Vivian's jacket around her, then wrapped Joe's flannel shirt and Phil's jacket around the woman's legs. She made a little scream of pain when he touched her legs, but her jeans hid any sign of damage, so Malvin assumed either one or both of her legs had been broken.

Just then, a crew member came out with a couple of blankets that Rick took from his hands and gave to Malvin. Working as quickly as they could and as gently as they could, the band, Malvin and the crew member managed to wrap the woman up against the cold pavement and to keep her from falling into shock, if she wasn't already halfway there. Rick took one look at the woman's face and turned away, his youthful face twisted with anger and sadness. Phil took him aside and said, "You okay, mate?" Rick sadly shook his
curly-haired head and sighed deeply. "Yes. No. Maybe.  I'll bet you a tenner that poor kid's been beaten up by either her husband or her boyfriend. I could have done something like that to Stacie at one time."

Phil gave his friend a quick squeeze around the shoulders and said, "You'd probably win that bet. And Rick...that was what you WERE. Now is all that matters." Rick smiled wanly at Phil and they went back to the others as Sav was trying to get the woman to
talk to him so she wouldn't fall further into shock.

Sav gently shook her shoulder and said, "Hey there...what's your name? Can you tell us what happened, or don't you know?" The woman opened her eyes again, this time trying her best to focus on him.  Her eyes were a deep, deep blue, almost the color of sapphires, and the bruising and cuts had almost swelled them shut. She watched Sav for a moment then said, "I'm Caitlin Sheridan. My...my ex-boyfriend did this to me. He asked me to meet him at his office to...SUPPOSEDLY give me back some stuff I'd given him and he beat the daylights out of me there. Started driving all over the place, hitting me and
stuff...then he dumped me off here. He came back and kicked me a few times, then he left." Her voice faded out as she drifted into unconsciousness, but by that time the police and ambulance crew had arrived and took over. The band told the police and paramedics
what Caitlin had told them and how they found her, their own expressions schooled not to betray their anger. Finally, the police said they would talk to Caitlin when she was able to talk and the head paramedic handed Malvin a piece of paper with the name and phone number of the hospital they were going to take Caitlin to. "She'll be all right, fellas," the
man said, seeing through the public masks the band had on. "I just wouldn't want to be the unlucky son of a bitch that did this to her. The fact that he threw her from a speeding car is attempted murder all by itself."

Sav bit the inside of one cheek to keep from saying anything in front of the police, but his anger was boiling up inside like a kettle with the lid on too tight. He'd seen the same violence once before and the memory of his friend Janet's face in the coffin was almost too much. With a heavy heart and a quickly whispered prayer for Caitlin's recovery, he followed his friends inside the arena.
 
 

Throughout the rest of the night, Sav couldn't help thinking about Caitlin and wondering if she was all right. At one point during the show, he managed to duck behind a speaker long enough to catch Malvin's eye and ask, "Heard anything about Caitlin?"

"I called once but the nurse said that they didn't know anything yet. The x-rays and MRI weren't back yet, so we'll have to wait. Now get back out there before I swat you," Malvin said, swinging a towel at Sav's behind and almost making contact. Sprinting back
to the front, Sav pasted a professional smile on his face and tried to push Caitlin's problems to the back of his mind.

After the show, none of the band members could wait to have Malvin find out about the woman and they badgered Mal until he called the emergency room again. As they waited for any news, they posed for photos and gave autographs to the fans that were backstage, trying to kill time. At one point, Rick looked in Mal's direction and saw the man's face turn snow-white under his tan. Rick politely disengaged himself from the fans he was talking to and went over to Malvin. He tapped him on the shoulder and Mal put one hand over the mouthpiece and said, "It's not good. She's hurt very badly and the doctor isn't sure how much internal damage she has. That's all they know right now."

Rick walked down a nearby deserted hallway and when he was alone, slammed his lone fist into one of the road cases that was stacked alongside the wall. Swearing to himself, he punched it again and again until a hand grabbed his and said, "Go ahead, shit for brains and break your hand. It's not going to help anything." His head snapped around and he saw Phil standing next to him, his arm muscles straining to keep Rick from delivering another punch to the plastic and metal case. Pulling his hand loose, Rick snarled, "I feel better, okay? It's like every time I think about what happened to that woman, I think of the times Stacy and I got into it and I'd punch her."

"Rick. Listen to me. You two wailed on each other a lot, but you both got around to realizing that it's not the way to solve problems. Am I not right? And last time I looked, you hadn't mutated into Tommy Lee," the blonde guitarist said, pulling his friend
over to sit on a crate beside him. "Whoever hurt Caitlin like they did was out to kill her. I just hope she can tell the police who her boyfriend is and where he is because I might get to him first..." Phil's voice trailed off as Malvin and the rest of the band came down the hall, concern written on their faces.  Finding themselves seats on the crates, they waited
for Malvin to tell them the news.

"Well, it's good and bad, gentlemen. The good is that the police got Caitlin's ex-boyfriend's name before she passed into a coma, and he's going to go to jail for a very, VERY long time because she's not the first woman he's beat to a pulp. From what the ER doctor told me, there were two more women beaten up that were brought to the ER today who'd been beaten up pretty badly and they were a couple girls he'd been seeing."

"The bad news is Caitlin is in a coma and the doctors aren't sure right now if she's going to have brain damage or not. She was raped multiple times and as we saw, beaten within an inch of her life. She has a broken leg and the other ankle's broken, her spleen's
ruptured and she has several busted ribs. And that's all I know," Malvin said, staring down at the floor as he spoke. When he looked up, there was a glare of rage in his eyes few people ever saw. The only person who didn't draw back was Sav, who met Malvin's glare with one of his own. "I remember Jane, Malvin. I only hope Caitlin's ex doesn't show his face where I can see it."

*******
Caitlin lay in a coma for three months, only occasionally rising out of it for a few moments then falling back into it. She knew her body was broken and battered and that she'd been put back together with stitches, wires and rods, but beyond that, she was too
tired to care. Zack had done a good job on her this time.

At one point she heard someone say something about a "fetus being removed" but she couldn't figure out who they were talking about. She did wake up a couple days later with a sore belly and the same hollow feeling she had after her periods were over, wondering if Zack had gotten her pregnant.

Finally, Caitlin came fully out of her coma and the first thing she saw was Sav and Joe. She blinked a couple times and coughed, then sputtered, "Sorry I'm not looking so hot, fellas. Good to see you." The men smiled down at her and Sav carefully took her left
hand and held it, saying, "Just glad to see you're awake. I TOLD them you were gonna wake up, just when YOU were ready." Joe held her other hand and said, "How are you feeling, kiddo?"

"I don't know. Sore, tired and heavy," she replied, then the memory of her torture came back full force. Her eyes shot wide open and she said, "Ohmygod...Zack isn't here, is  he?"

"He wouldn't be alive if he was," Sav growled. "His ass is in jail where it's supposed to be. You weren't the only bird he beat up, only the two girls he smacked around didn't fall into a coma like you did. He's going to prison and for a long time, ladybird." Caitlin sighed deeply and relaxed into the pillows, her quick burst of strength fading fast.

"You two didn't have to come here," she whispered. "I mean, I was going to find some way to thank you all, but..." Caitlin said, only to be interrupted by Joe.  "Caitlin, we had to. It's only right to see if you are going to be okay," he said. "Besides, we had to be back in town anyway to play a makeup show for the second show we had to cancel because of the power outage the second night."

"Damn, I missed a lot, didn't I?" Caitlin said, her eyes closing even as she fought to keep them open. "''M sorry..." she whispered as sleep took her again.  The two men sat beside her bed for a long time, watching her sleep.
 
 

Caitlin spent another couple of months in the hospital as her broken bones healed and she went through physical therapy to recover her balance and motor skills that had been damaged by her head injury.  Finally, after what seemed months of torture, the doctors pronounced her well enough to go home, so she packed up what things she had and called a cab service to take her back to her apartment. While she was waiting, she poured over the small box of postcards and notes the band had sent her and smiled. She'd never expected anything out of them after they had saved her life that cold evening, but she was slowly growing closer to the band and cherished their friendship more than anything else.

Just then, a soft knock at her door made her look up and she met Phil's quiet smile with one of her own. "We're here to spring ya out of this joint, little lady!" he stage-whispered. His son, Rory, was right behind him and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Rory, Phil's kid. You must be Caitlin."

Caitlin shook Rory's hand in return and said, "Yes, I am. I really can't thank your father and the rest of the band for helping me out that night, I don't even want to think what would have happened if I'd laid there much longer." She let Phil settle her into the wheelchair a nurse had pushed in as they talked, and after signing her release papers, Caitlin found herself settled quickly into the passenger seat of a huge Range Rover. Rory stowed her small duffel bag in
the back seat with him and Phil slid behind the wheel, shoving a pair of sunglasses on. "I didn't think you knew how to drive...er...here, that is," Caitlin said, slightly embarassed.

"Had to. The wife got tired of being the one who always did the pizza runs at our house, so I got my United States licence renewed. She's closing up the house and will meet us when we get to the airport," Phil replied, carefully easing the Rover out into traffic. Caitlin looked puzzled then Phil continued.
"Sav and his girlfriend got married a few weeks back and since we're touring, Paige is along but she needs someone to help out with Tyler. Do you think you could come along with us for awhile?"

Caitlin was floored. "Uh...well, I guess I could. I mean, I was sort of between jobs when Zack decided to use me as a punching bag and...but why me? I mean, I could be a serial killer for all you guys know," she said. Rory laughed gently at her and said, "Man, Caitlin, you sure are modest. Between jobs my right toe! Dad, this is the lady that wrote the "Elven Kingdom" series you and Anita raved about. Don't you recognize her? And she's also the lady who wrote those
books about the magic guinea pigs I had when I was little."

Caitlin blushed a dark red and hid her face behind a veil of hair. "Rory, I could just kill you right about now," she hissed.

"Nah, I'm too cute. Besides, you said in an interview I saw on TV that you were going to be working on a new series and wasn't sure where it was going to be, so..." Rory continued, looking as innocent as the cat that just ate the canary. Phil shot an apologetic look at Caitlin and said, "He's a monster. Of course, I didn't make him that way, his honorary Uncle Joe did. And you're a damn fine writer if I may say so myself. So. You wanna come hang out with a rock band for awhile or what?"

For the first time in months, Caitlin felt like she had a future. When she had been with Zack, nothing she wrote was worth keeping and now, she felt the beginnings of ideas start to creep out of her subconscious. "Can we stop by my apartment first?" she asked. "I need a few things, if that's okay?"

Phil smiled over at her and said, "Your wish is my command, milady. Just tell me how to get there."

After a quick stop at her apartment super's office to pay her rent for the next several months and give him a forwarding address for all of her mail, Caitlin led Phil and Rory up a short flight of stairs to her apartment. Luckily Zack had never had a key to her place, so everything was as she'd left it the night he'd called her. She pulled a set of duffel bags out of her closet and began throwing clothes out of the drawers into them, Rory and Phil collecting her laptop and briefcase that the laptop was stored in. She showed them which files to pull from the small file cabinet near her desk and asked them to pack the Zip drive and zip disks she needed. Within minutes, she
was fully packed and ready to go. As Phil and Rory lugged her stuff down to the Rover, Caitlin stopped long enough to pluck a small, stuffed teddy bear from its place on her bed and stowed him in her backpack. Pulling the door shut, she fairly danced down the stairs and into her new life.

*******

Life on the road wasn't as bad as Caitlin had originally thought. She had time to write and do
whatever she wanted and she spent a lot of time with Sav's new wife, Paige, and their son. One afternoon when Tyler was down for a nap and the women were sitting in the unusually warm, late fall sunshine, Paige looked over at Caitlin and said, "Thanks for saying you'd come along, Cait. My husband and his friends can be very persuasive when they want to be."

"Thanks for having me along. I've actually got a lot of writing done, got some stuff ready to send to my publisher to see if she likes it or not. And Tyler's not any problem at all," she replied.

Paige yawned hugely and said, "Hmph. I'll let him sleep with you when he's up till all hours of the
night! By the way, Ty's not the whole reason the band asked you along. It's partially to give you some time to heal up and also to keep you safe till that asshole that mangled you goes to prison. He doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell, but still..."

Caitlin was deeply touched by this. "But...you guys hardly know me!" she stammered. Just then, Malvin's voice came from behind her, "We know enough about you to trust you with Tyler, plus we've all grown very fond of you. You're a wonderful person, a great writer and you've come a very long way, Caitlin. So sit back and enjoy it. Zack's gonna go where he can't hurt you or anyone ever again."

"I hope so." Caitlin thought.
 
 

Caitlin settled into the traveling routine quickly. She took care of Tyler when his parents needed time alone or a break, she played video games with Rory and he taught her to rollerblade and ride a skateboard, and managed to get several hours of writing in per day. She had two stories in the works, one was a short story she was planning to submit to a noted science-fiction magazine, the other...the other had started out as a fairy tale but had metamorphed into something more adult. Even Caitlin had a hard time not losing herself in the intense emotions she'd given her
characters.

One afternoon, Caitlin fell asleep on the hotel balcony and woke up to see Joe sitting next to her,
the laptop balanced on his lap. He was scrolling through the text and when the chair she was sleeping in creaked as she shifted her weight, Joe looked at her guiltily and said, "I'm sorry. I came over to see if you wanted to go to dinner with me tonight and your laptop was sitting there.."

"It's okay, it's just something I'm sort of working on. I got an e-mail from the magazine I wanted to sell that sci-fi story I told you and Malvin about; they want it as a series, so that's gonna take precedence over what you're reading," Caitlin replied, trying to hide her embarrassment. She hoped desperately that Joe hadn't been reading the latest sex scene she had written, but she could tell by the way he was sitting that he had. "Pretty hot stuff here," Joe said weakly, waving his hand as if he had burned himself.

Caitlin's blush deepened. "Pretty good for a woman whose first sexual experience was being raped, huh?" she said, her voice bitter. Joe set the laptop down onto the table between them and knelt at her feet.  "Caitlin...I'm so, so sorry. Nobody should have to have gone through what you've gone through." He held out his hands, knowing from what Sav had told him about his friend Jane that had been raped then murdered by her husband when she'd divorced him for
the rape that he had to be very careful and not say or do anything to scare Caitlin away. "I know you've probably talked about what happened to the hospital folk, but do you want to talk about it to me? Or to Paige or Anita?" he asked.

Caitlin shifted her weight in her chair then lifted the laptop onto her own lap. She typed in a file name and saved the file, then shut the computer down. "Not out here, no. And not just to you...to everyone. Please?"

Joe stood and held out his hands again and helped Caitlin up. "Anything you want, little one. Your room or someone else's?" he asked.

"Mine. Ten minutes and...if someone doesn't want to be here, that's okay," Caitlin replied, stepping into the room and shutting the glass door behind her. As Joe left to gather the band, Anita and Paige, he wondered what they were getting themselves into...and if any of them could tell her about the terrible loss she'd suffered.

*******
When everyone was seated about Caitlin's room, she carefully dimmed the lights and finished lighting the candles she'd put about the room. The only one absent was Malvin, who was sick in bed with a stomach bug.
Caitlin curled up on her bed, pulled a blanket up over her knees and hugged her teddy bear to her chest. She looked at the faces watching her and said, "First.  Thanks a lot. I don't know how to thank all of you for what you've done to help me out."

"Second...I'll try to keep this short and painless, as best I can. I couldn't really TALK to the people at the hospital, it was like all they cared about was getting my side of the story down  and that was it."

"I met Zack through my publisher. He was an up and coming writer and we were on a panel together at a sci-fi convention in Vermont a year or so back. He was pretty nice, well read, funny...all the things I liked. I wasn't a big fan of the genre he wrote in, but he liked what I did, especially the children's books I did when I first started out. He asked me out a few times for dinner, we went to a couple movies and stuff, but nothing big. We'd known one another for
about six months when he asked me if I'd date him exclusively and I said yes. And that's when things changed."
 
 

"Zack started getting very possessive of me after I said I'd go with him exclusively. I couldn't even talk to any of my male friends, he even made me switch banks because there were all male tellers at the bank I'd done business with. And sex...he got SO mad
because I wouldn't have sex with him. Something told me he wasn't right and I tried to reason with him, and he quit bugging me for awhile. He started reading what I wrote and if he didn't like it, I'd have to dump it and start over. I'm surprised I managed to get anything written and sold during that time."

"Anyway, I was starting to feel really funny about our relationship when I got a call one afternoon from a woman who wanted to meet me and talk to me about Zack. I thought it was someone from the publisher---it was his sister. She told me that Zack had a lot of anger towards women and that he'd gotten out of a rape charge when he was sixteen because the girl he'd raped was supposedly the town slut. She asked me if I'd ever read anything by a Sulatair Timanin and I said no, his stuff was supposedly pretty horrid stuff packaged as science fiction. It turns out it was Zack, writing out his fantasies and stuff..." Caitlin's voice broke as she felt tears come to her eyes. "Everything he wrote under that pen name is...it's a written version of every hardcore porno and snuff movie you've ever
thought of. I don't know why it sells...but anyway, I broke up with Zack the next day. He took it okay and said he hoped I'd have a good life and a successful career. I thought he was out of my life for good...boy, was I wrong."

Caitlin's shoulders bowed forward as the remembered pain tore at her. Paige sat down on the bed beside her and put an arm around her, rocking her gently and letting Caitlin weep softly. Finally, she lifted her face up and said, "So I get this call from Zack one night. Says he's at the office and there's something he wants to give back to me that I gave him. The only thing I could think of was a couple of first edition books, and even though I know I should have taken someone with me, I went over to the office. Everything was okay until I went to leave, and that's when he slammed the door shut and went after me. I don't remember how long he beat me up and screamed at me, I just remember him telling me that since I wouldn't give it to him he'd been getting it from a couple other girls that finally told him no and they were paying for it now. I had no idea what he was talking
about...then he started telling me what he was going to do to me, how he was going to screw me like the heroes in his books did to their whores...and he did.  He raped me over and over...I tried to make him stop....and when he was done, he made me get dressed and like NOTHING HAPPENED, said he was going to take me home. The next thing I knew he was shoving me out of the car...and I hit my head hard."

Caitlin curled into Paige's shoulder and cried the tears she hadn't been able to cry. Joe sat down on her other side and held her too, and soon the entire band and Anita were piled around Caitlin, holding her and telling her she was going to be okay, that it wasn't her fault and that Zack was never going to hurt her again. Finally, when her tears abated, Caitlin fixed Sav with an unmovable stare and said, "And he got me pregnant, didn't he? And the baby died?"

He nodded, unable to speak. Rick reached out his hand and took Caitlin's and held onto it, gently shaking it till she looked at him. "The doctors told us that Zack has something wrong with him that would make any baby he tried to father unable to make it past the first few weeks. Call it poetic justice or whatever, but it happened. There was no way to tell what it would have been." Caitlin closed her eyes and whispered, "Did he...give me any diseases?" A chorus of "no's" echoed in her ears and she said, "I think I'd like to be
alone for awhile."

"No, I don't think so, sugar," Anita said. "You need to sleep for awhile, I'll hang around in case you need anything. I had a friend who went through what you did and after she told her story, she slept like a log for two days. You need that rest, Caitlin." Before she
could protest, Anita and Paige herded the men out of the room, helped her into her favorite nightgown and tucked her in. "We'll be here, Caitlin," Paige said. "It's the least we can do for you."

Caitlin slept for almost 48 hours as Anita had predicted. At one point, the band was alarmed and wanted to summon a doctor, but Anita stopped them.  "That poor thing has held all of that pain back for so long its worn her out. You men don't understand, but
rape does terrible things to a woman's soul and she needs time to let it heal up. Let her sleep."

When Caitlin woke again, disoriented and groggy, it was Joe that told her where she was, what time it was and that she was all right. It was Joe who also carried her to the little table near the window and made her eat some toast and drink some tea before she fell asleep again...and it was Joe who sat on the bed next to her the whole night, keeping watch as she slept.
 
 

Joe sat beside Caitlin as she slept, watching her eyes dart back and forth underneath her eyelids as she dreamed. He'd volunteered to keep watch over her every other night and most nights she'd slept soundly, only occasionally waking up and stumbling to the bathroom, never comprehending that he was in the room with her.

This night, however, was different. Her face flickered between fear and rage as she dreamed, and occasionally a mumbled word would escape her lips. Joe could only guess at what her nightmares were and when he reached to gently shake her awake, a scream torn from the bottom of her soul shattered the night. He flung himself backwards, a primal fear tearing at his insides. The scream sounded like a wounded animal in a trap just before it chews its own leg off to get out
and it terrified Joe to no end. Caitlin struggled in the bed, begging her unseen assailant not to hurt her, telling him she was sorry she'd made him mad, pleading with him not to hurt her like that. Her legs flopped apart and she screamed again, reliving her rape in her nightmares. Without thinking, Joe tore the blankets away from Caitlin and pulled her up into his arms and ran for the bathroom. He flipped the shower on full last and as cold as death, and held her under the spray, soaking them both.

Caitlin came out of her dream instantly, sputtering and choking on the water. She tried to pull away from Joe, not realizing who it was at first, then she sagged into his arms and cried. Joe lowered them both to the floor and grabbed as many towels as he could, struggling to at least get one around Caitlin's soaked body. She clung to him like a limpet and Joe finally gave up, settling for wrapping the towels around them and cuddling her closely. She cried for what seemed like forever and when her sobs quieted, Joe whispered, "Sorry for the cold shower, luv. You wouldn't stop screaming."

"It's...okay. God, I thought I was over all that," Caitlin replied, her voice a hoarse croak. She started shivering and Joe said, "Come on, let's get you into something dry and get you back in bed." He helped her up and took her back into the bedroom, where he dug through one of her duffel bags in search of another nightshirt. He found a thin, lacy creation of silvery material in the bottom when nothing else presented itself and handed it to Caitlin, who blanched and pushed it away. "I can't. I can't stand to look at myself in that," she said, hugging the damp towel to her body. Joe carefully refolded the nightgown and put it in the bottom of the bag and said, "Look. Lemme go get some dry stuff of my own and I'm sure to have a t-shirt in there somewhere."

Caitlin's eyes started to go blank and Joe realized she was mentally retreating from him, afraid he would hurt her the way her ex-boyfriend had. Joe pulled the lacy nightgown back out of the bag and held it out to Caitlin again and said, "It won't hurt you, luv. I promise I won't even peek until you're in bed and covered up. Cross my heart."

Caitlin's eyes were growing blanker by the second and Joe began to panic. "Caitlin, please don't do this. I can't even begin to imagine what you've gone through, but if you don't get into something dry and get back into bed, you're going to get really sick. And I don't think you want to get pneumonia or something like that." He was starting to shiver himself, praying Caitlin would come to herself and let him go find some dry clothes before he froze to death. Caitlin's eyes met his and she whimpered in the back of her throat. "I'm so...ugly. And....who's going to want me now?" she whispered.

That broke Joe's heart. He held his arms out and Caitlin came back to him and he held her, his own tears of anger, shame and a killing rage spilling onto her hair. "How can you say that about yourself, little one? You're not ugly, not by a long shot, and whatever happened to you IS NOT YOUR FAULT. And...if you'd let me, I'd fall in love with you in a second," he cried, weeping into Caitlin's shoulder. "If I could make it all go away, I would. If I could give you back your virginity, I would. But I can't."

They held each other for a long, long time, two souls all alone in the night. In the back of his head, Joe wondered why nobody from security or the band had plowed the door down, then he remembered that the room Caitlin was in was on the end of a block and heavily soundproofed. Joe felt Caitlin shudder in his arms and he sat down on the bed, Caitlin balanced on his knees.
She curled into his neck, his blonde hair covering hers like a veil of silk. Her lips tentatively touched his throat, then his earlobe, sliding their way down to his shoulder.

"Oh God Caitlin, you don't know what you're doing," he begged, animal lust screaming its head off in his ears. She pulled back for a second and stared Joe right in the eyes and whispered, "If you want to fall in love with me, go right ahead. I fell for you the moment I woke up in the hospital and you and Sav were there. And in case you didn't realize it, that story I'm writing? The male character is you." Their lips met gently and Joe had to haul his libido in before he did something stupid. Caitlin slid around until she was sitting in his lap and pulled Joe's shirt off, following it with her damp nightshirt. Joe's breath caught in his throat when he realized she had  absolutely nothing on and the crotch of his jeans was getting wetter and wetter, and not from the impromptu
soaking.

They parted long enough for Joe to take the rest of his clothes off and slide back into bed. He knew he'd have to be more than careful with Caitlin even though she seemed as if she would welcome any advance. He took her hand in his and guided it down between his legs and whispered, "See? It's all me, and I PROMISE not to hurt you. If you'll have me, if you'll let me,
I'll show you what you should have been given your first time." Caitlin touched Joe tentatively, then slid her hand around him, making him catch his breath. "Okay," she whispered.

No further words were exchanged as the lovers kissed and touched each other, learning curves and contours, places of pleasure and other sensations. Joe could tell Caitlin was almost ready to beg him to take her, but he said, "Tell me how you want me." Her eyes opened wide and she said, "Any way but on my back." Joe lay back on the bed and beckoned to her, taking Caitlin's hands in his own to steady her. He let her set the pace, touching her between the legs occasionally to help her realize that what was happening between them was how it should have been for her the first time. "Joe, I don't think I can take this...all of you," Caitlin moaned just as her inner muscles let go and she took him all the way inside. "Oh...there's no pain....ahhh..." she keened as Joe sat up, folding his long legs under her behind and letting her wrap her legs around his back.

"You can't....ah...move much like this...."Joe said as he leaned in to nip at her neck. Caitlin gasped and when she did, something inside her grabbed onto Joe and he nearly split his skull on the headboard. Intuition took over and before he could stop her, Caitlin was loving him in a manner he'd only had once before. The fact that he couldn't thrust into her made the experience more intense and he started to see stars behind his eyelids. He lay back on the bed, unable to sit up as Caitlin cried out and his own orgasm came a second later, followed by another hard
spasm from Caitlin before she slid  free of him and onto the bed. Joe crawled over to her, pulling
blankets with him and wrapped them up, fearing Caitlin would have another attack of fear. When her breathing slowed to the point that he could tell she slept, Joe spooned around her back and drifted off to sleep himself.

"Hmph. First time I've ever had a WOMAN fall asleep before I did," he though as dreams cloaked his mind.
 
 
 

Caitlin woke up sometime in the late afternoon, the bed next to her empty. She felt the sheets and realized Joe had been out of the bed for some time for they were cool, but not cold. She rolled over and saw a note on the pillow, held down by a small bouquet of tiny white rosebuds. Smiling at the gesture, she slipped the note from beneath the bouquet and opened it, smelling the familiar scent of Joe's cologne:

"Hey love:

Gonna be at sound check for a bit. If you want, holler over and Malvin will come get you. Otherwise, I'll see you around four.

Love you."

Caitlin stretched and climbed out bed, realizing that sometime during the night she'd dressed in the silvery nightgown she had bought shortly before....no, she would not think of that now. Dressing quickly in her favorite leggings, a long tunic that laced up the neck
and a pair of low boots, she tied her hair back and dialed Malvin's cell phone number.

"Hey sunshine!" Malvin's cheery voice came over the sound of some obscure song the band was playing. "You want to come over?"

"Yeah, I think so. By the way, what's in this box in the room? It's...big," she said, going over to the box and carefully tugging the twine off of the box. She pushed aside the wrappings and gasped as she saw what was inside---a traditional Celtic harp. "Oh God
Malvin! Who...how did you guys know I play harp?"

"Ah but my lovely Caitlin, that's for us to know and you to find out!" Malvin teased. "Bring it with you, there's a case inside the box, everything you need.  I'll be over in 10, yes?" Caitlin made some nonsensical noise and hung up, too intent on lifting the harp out of the box. The scent of wood, varnish, wax and bronze met her nose and she sighed  deeply, remembering the harp Zack had destroyed in one of his rages. She examined the harp carefully, running her fingers over the intricate Celtic knotwork, the inset amethysts, blue topaz and clear quartz stones, and the first and third octaves marked out with red harpstring. SOMEONE had made this with the love and respect a harp of this kind deserved. Pulling it up into her lap, Caitlin ran her fingers over the strings, sighing at the sweet chime the strings made. She was totally lost in music when she heard Malvin holler, "Hey angel, case that pup and come on!" She reverently put the harp back into the leather case and grabbing her purse, peeped out the spy hole and saw Malvin standing there, smiling at her.

"Fess up, Mister Mortimer. YOU'RE responsible for this, right?" she asked as they walked down the hall to the back door.

"Nope, it was a collaboration between Joe and Viv. Your publisher told us some of the stuff that Zack trashed before you and he broke up, and your harp was one of them. That, and the fact that all of your characters are harpers. So...Vivian called a friend of his in Ireland, Joe picked it out...and that's that," Malvin said, carefully handing her into the rented Mustang.

"It's gorgeous...and exactly like my old harp," she said as Malvin pulled out into traffic. "I don't know how to thank you, all of you."

"Caitlin, it's NOTHING. You're a lovely person, you're interesting as hell....and besides, we're keeping you safe until after that asshole's trial. You don't have to testify, none of his victims do because there's enough evidence from what happened to you and the others to put him away forever. As long as you're with us, nobody's going to touch you," Malvin said, one eye on the road and the other surreptuously looking over at Caitlin. He was the only person who knew that Joe and Caitlin had been together and in his heart he felt Joe had been the best thing for her. He'd told Malvin how scared he was when she started screaming in her nightmares, and how afraid he'd been when she'd asked him to lie with her. Sighing, Malvin pulled into the concert hall's parking lot and helped Caitlin out of
the car.
 
 

Caitlin and the band played off and on for over an hour, enjoying the  sheer pleasure of just playing for the hell of it. They finally had  to call a halt when Caitlin pulled her hands away from the harp and  shook them hard, saying, "My hands are going to fall off guys!"

"Ah well, we were about done anyway," Sav replied, dropping his bass into a nearby stand and shaking his long hair back from his face. "Not bad, kiddo. Ever think of starting a band?"

"Nah, I'm not that good. Besides, it's just something I do for fun,  you know? I play most trad Irish instruments anyway---bodhrain, the Julilean pipes, pennywhistles, you name it. Mom and Dad were Irish musicians and I sorta inherited their talent. I'm a better writer
anyway," Caitlin replied, carefully wiping her harp's strings with a cloth and storing the instrument away. She turned to Joe, who was standing across from her, watching her with a look she couldn't decipher.

"Anything wrong, love?" she asked, going over to him. Joe didn't seem to hear her for a second, then he looked at her and said, "There's only two of you left now. Remember the girl your ex beat up so bad, the one who was in hospital? She died last night from an aneurysm. And...Caitlin, Zack's out on bail."

The world began to darken as Joe spoke to her, but Caitlin tried to hold onto awareness as best she could. She felt the blood rushing from her face as the news sunk in, and before she passed out, she handed her harp case to Rick and let the darkness take her.

********
Joe worried about Caitlin all through the show that night. She was safely tucked away at the side of the stage, Malvin next to her and a plainclothes policeman on her other side. She smiled at Joe when their eyes met, but she shook the whole time even with the sedatives the doctor the band had called in had given her. All she could think of was Zack coming after her and finishing what he had started.

"At least the other girl's okay," she thought to herself. The other victim had gone into hiding at the first word of Zack's being out on bond, and no one, not even the DA's office, had any idea where she was. There had been a brief, intense band meeting before the show and it was decided that since the tour was at a point that a break wouldn't be seen as suspicious, they decided to stop the tour until after the trial. Caitlin had decided on hiding herself, but Joe had insisted on going with her, wherever she went. After a long, heated
argument, she had agreed to let Joe come with her, wherever she ran to. Malvin's contribution was a promise to find them a hideaway where they would be safe and neither of them would know where they were going until they got there. Caitlin just hoped they could flee before it was too late. She knew Zack was coming for her, and she did NOT
want Joe or any of the band in the middle.

A couple days later, Caitlin found herself in the back of a nondescript Blazer, slowly weaving up the side of what seemed to be a mountain. They crested the hill and the road suddenly turned into a roadway paved with natural rock that lead up to a rusty-looking gate. The driver flashed his headlights at the gate and it swung open, revealing the lovely little estate hidden inside. Catching her breath, Caitlin marveled at the beautiful fall leaves that shimmered in the early morning light, and when she saw the modestly-sized
cottage at the end of the drive, she caught her breath. Joe was standing there with Malvin and another man she didn't recognize and she barely waited for the driver to stop the vehicle before she unbelted herself and ran to hold Joe in her arms.

"What IS this place?" she asked, freeing one hand to gesture about.

"A good friend of mine built this place awhile back," Malvin said, leaning against one of the vehicles. "He wanted total privacy with a mix of all the comforts of home and stuff like that. He's the guy you saw me talking to the afternoon we split to go out here; he's
probably one of the best security folk I've met. Anyway, you and Sir Fluffyhead have the place to yourselves. It has satellite TV, digital phone service and a state of the art security system. The phone's untappable, so's the internet service. Here's the keys....and behave
yourselves!"

When the men were gone, leaving only the brown Blazer Caitlin had ridden up in, she looked at Joe and said, "Uh...guess we could call this our bolthole?"

Joe leaned down to kiss her as hard as he could, running his hands up her behind and clenching at her shoulders. "No, sweet one. It's our honeymoon cottage." With this, he swept her up into his arms and carried her over the threshold into the house.
 
 

Once inside the house, Joe set Caitlin down on a couch and looking about, said, "Damn...this place DOES have everything." Caitlin saw a long hallway that lead to what was obviously a bedroom and saw her luggage sitting just inside the door. She turned to Joe, her eyes haunted and tired. "I'm not asking for sex, but...Joe, could you come hold me for awhile?"

"Your wish is my command, my lady," he replied, taking her hand and leading her down the hallway. Just before they reached the door, Joe pointed to the elaborate control panel set in the wall just outside the bedroom door. "According to Mal, there's one in the computer room and one in the basement. They armed it as soon as they left, that's why the panel's got the green lights
up. I swear, I feel like I'm in some James Bond movie."

Caitlin smiled but it was a tired, strained smile. Joe noticed immediately and closing the door behind them, shoved their luggage out of the way and brought the lights up to where the room was just barely lit by the hidden lights near the ceiling. Caitlin started to lie down in her clothes, but Joe stopped her, saying, "I have a surprise for you." He handed her a shopping bag and said, "Go ahead. Picked this out all by myself." Caitlin carefully opened the bag and began giggling
when she saw what was inside. She pulled out a set of flannel pajamas in a light baby blue shade, decorated all over with cartoon kittens. Joe unzipped one of his duffel bags and said, "The saleslady thought I was nuts, but I got bottoms to match your outfit," he said, holding up his own flannel pajama bottoms decorated in the same manner as Caitlin's. Within moments, they were both attired in their pajamas, and Caitlin curled up on the bed, Joe spooned behind her.

"The saleslady probably thought you were a cross-dresser or something," she teased, pulling a
blanket up over her knees. Joe snorted and said, "Hey. I spent two hours in that lingerie store, there's more where those jammies came from. My picture is gonna be all over every fanzine and rag mag from here to Timbuktoo..."Joe Elliott: He-Man turns Cross Dresser." Caitlin laughed and snuggled closer to Joe, then saw something sitting on the night table next to her side of the bed. It was her old teddy bear sitting with one paw around a similar bear, but this one was wearing a
blue ribbon around its neck where hers had a faded pink ribbon. Smiling, she drifted off to sleep, the image of Joe standing marooned in a lingerie shop lingering in her head.

The house had everything a "honeymooning" couple could want---fully stocked kitchen, pantry and wine cellar, satellite television with almost a thousand channels, a bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and shower big enough to make love in (which they did) and a gorgeous garden behind the house to laze about in, and scenery that dazzled the eyes with its fall foliage. Not to mention
a CD player and CD collection that rivaled Joe's.

The trial was almost a week off. Caitlin and Joe had been asleep when the untappable  phone rang. They both jumped at the noise as they'd done all the calling out, and Joe peered at the caller ID hooked to the bedside phone before answering. "Hey Mal, what's up?" he asked.

"How are you and Caitlin doing?" Malvin's voice came down the line. "Everyone here says hi."

"We're doing okay. Caitlin's still pretty shook up over that little prick getting bail, but she's
starting to relax a little. By the way...you didn't tell me your friend left a gun cabinet that looks like
a mini-Army arsenal along with some pretty wicked crossbows and regular bows. You're ASSUMING I know how to use this stuff, Mal," Joe said, curling up on the couch next to Caitlin.

"I know you can. I also know your little bird is a pretty good shot with a crossbow; she told me. As for my friend---let's say he's in the business of keeping people safe. That's just part of his arsenal, you didn't see the back part of the basement. That's where he keeps the really serious stuff. Go take a look sometime," Malvin replied.

"What DOESN'T he have, a nuclear fucking warhead, Mal? Damn, boy, I wish I knew where you met people like that. Certainly wasn't thru us," Joe said, curling an arm around Caitlin. She made a soft noise and settled against him, the silk of her nightclothes rubbing against his skin. Joe had fallen asleepin a baggy pair of thermal material pants and Caitlin in a caftan in a deep shade of rose. She curled into his arm and settled in, and Joe could tell by her breathing that she was falling back to sleep. Well, they HAD been up half the night watching movies on the satellite and
making love...

"Hah. You only wish you knew people like I do. Stick with me kiddo, I'll introduce you to some real
interesting folk. Anyway...according to the DA's office, that little turd is on home confinement for
the time being and behaving himself. So...you two enjoy yourselves, okay? I gotta run, I have to do some stuff with the website. You need us, you call, okay?" Malvin said. Joe said he would and replaced the phone in its cradle, looking down at the woman sleeping in his arms. Funny how fate brought people together...

******
The wait was almost over when Caitlin got the call she had been dreading. It was the assistant DA calling to tell her that Zack had pulled the tracking collar off of his leg and had vanished into thin air. Putting down the phone with a shaking hand, she turned to Joe and said, "Zack's out on the street. Joe...he's coming for me, I just know it." She ran into the bedroom and flung herself onto the bed, shaking all over. Joe went to her and held her close, covering her body with his
own. Caitlin wept for a long while and Joe did as well, enraged at the man who kept his beloved under such a spell of terror and fear.

"Joe...he's going to kill me. I don't know why he didn't kill the other women he was with besides me, but I know he's going to kill me," she whispered.

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Joe growled. "Caitlin, I love you. I will NOT let Zack near you
even if I have to strangle him with my bare hands. I want him dead and GONE, lady love."

Caitlin rolled over and flung herself on top of Joe, kissing him desperately, her hands tearing at his pants as she struggled out of her robe. They made love like animals, as if the act would keep the inevitable away. Caitlin screamed as she came to her climax, her wail echoing in the room. Terrified, Joe caught her as she fell off of him, and held her as close as he had their first night together.

Joe woke late in the night, something tugging at his hearing as being out of place in the usually
nearly-quiet house. He could see that sunrise was only a few moments off, and when he rolled over to check on Caitlin, he saw she was gone. Straining his ears, he heard a very faint whimper of pain coming from somewhere in the house. He came wide awake and yanked his pants on, and stole cat-footed into the hallway. He listened hard again and heard the whimper again, this time a little louder and coming from the den.  Something told him to drop to his hands and knees and he crept up to the doorway and peeked inside and saw his worst nightmare coming true. Standing over Caitlin, holding some kind of padded metal baton, was Zack. He'd obviously beaten Caitlin to the floor and every time she moved, he'd kick her either in the ribs or the stomach. "You don't move, bitch, unless I tell you," he hissed. "Damn you for living, you useless
piece of shit."

"Zack, why me?" Caitlin begged, raising half up on one arm. "You got what you wanted. Why do you hate me so much?"

"BECAUSE! You're one of those 'modern' women who won't accept that your place is to be mastered by a man like me. You were so pretty, so pure....I thought I could make you into the perfect wife someday. Obviously I was wrong," Zack yelled, leaning down to slap her as hard as he could. "Those other girls were just...toys.  They gave me what you wouldn't, and from the way
you're dressed and the smell on your body, you're just a whore like them."

Joe looked around wildly for something, anything to use as a weapon and saw the basement door hidden half in shadows, and he remembered Mal's words from a few days earlier. Sprinting as quietly as he could, he hit the stairway and locked the door behind him, snapping the lights on as he ran. At the bottom of the short flight of stairs was Malvin's friend's workroom, which was a weapon master's wet dream. Joe looked about for a second then saw a length of matte black metal almost as long as he was tall. It was padded in the middle for a handgrip and weighted a bit at both ends. Smiling evilly to himself, Joe picked the staff up and pulling a t-shirt on that was draped over a nearby chair, slipped a waist sheath on with a pair of wicked little knives in them around his hips and pulled the shirt over them. They'd be harder to get to, but at least you couldn't tell he had more on him than the quarterstaff. Stealing back up the stairs, he heard
Caitlin's scream again and vaulted up the rest of the stairs, making sure to open the door and shut it again as quietly as he could.

"Stop screaming you little whore! I have every right to kick the life out of you...and you giving some disease-ridden rock star what I SHOULD have been given!" he heard Zack hiss. Hearing this and Caitlin's cries echoing in his ears, Joe lifted the staff and slipped into the room behind Zack where he tapped him with the base of the quarterstaff he was holding. "Hi, you little prick," Joe snarled, rage boiling in his veins. "Wanna dance, motherfucker?"
 
 

Zack whirled around when he heard Joe speak. "Well, well, well..." he hissed, turning his attention away from tormenting Caitlin. "So. You're the boy who's been porking my woman, eh? Damn....I'm gonna hate messing up that pretty face of yours."

Joe said nothing, just watched Zack with the wariness of a predator facing down another predator. The men circled one another, waiting for the first move to strike. Caitlin took the chance to struggle up onto her bloody knees and crawled out the side door, then once outside, she ran down the hallway to the main living room where the crossbows were racked in their own cabinet.

Zack took the first swing at Joe, missing the singer by inches. Joe sidestepped, remembering what Phil had told him about quarterstaff fighting, and with a quick judge of distance, swung in and connected with Zack's ribs, hearing them crack as the weighted end hit the other man's side. Zack screeched and came at Joe again with the truncheon, swinging wildly. Joe managed to dodge a few of the blows and block others, but one made its way through and slammed into his right shoulder, numbing it to his fingertips. "Damnit!" Joe yelled, half-dropping to one knee and delivering a blow to Zack's legs, dropping the man with the blow.
Zack screamed and tried to hit Joe in the same way with his truncheon, but Joe hopped aside and ran for the door. "CAITLIN!!" he screamed, his trained voice echoing through the house. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!" Shaking his hand to try and get the feeling back into his right hand, Joe fled for the garden outside, hitting the "emergency" button on the alarm system as he ran. The system was wired directly into the local police station and meant that help would be  there within moments. Before that, though...

A hard blow to Joe's unprotected back sent him sprawling across the lawn, the quarterstaff flying out of his hands. Scrambling for it and swearing at the pain in his shoulders, Joe grabbed the staff back up  and barely dogged a strike from a knife Zack had produced from somewhere. "HOLD STILL, YOU PERVERT!" Zack screamed, burying the blade of the knife in the turf next to Joe's head. Rolling to his feet, Joe found himself facing not only a truncheon, but a knife that just barely boarder on being called a knife and not a shortsword.

"I'm gonna kill you, you...damned foreigner. Your blood isn't pure enough to mix with Caitlin's, so I'll kill her somewhere else. You'll see each other in hell, I promise you that," Zack muttered, moving in on Joe. Blocking blows from the knife and the truncheon began to wear on Joe, and he knew there was no way he could get to the knives under his shirt in time. His ears picked up the faint wail of sirens in the distance, and that gave him a LITTLE more strength to swing, block and parry.

Zack's eyes were full of madness as he pressed the singer back along the lawn, back towards the high stone wall that bordered the property. "One thing I gotta know," gasped Joe between movements, "how in hell did you get in here?"

"Climbed a tree and jumped over the wall. See, being a writer and learning many things from many people comes in handy when you have an enemy to conquer," Zack said in a gloating voice. "Nothing is going to keep me from killing Caitlin. She's not pure anymore, you spoiled
her by screwing her and now she's going to die. And so are you."

Desperately, Joe flung himself to the side as Zack struck down with the knife, slashing his arm open and nicking his hip. Another blow from the truncheon contacted with Joe's already abused shoulder and he screamed in pain as he heard the collarbone snap. The world greyed out and Joe went to his knees, self-preservation forcing his body into overdrive. Adrenaline pushed the darkness away long enough for Joe to fling himself aside, but it was too late. Zack stepped on Joe's wrists, grinding them into the dirt.

Blue eyes met mad grey ones as Joe stared up into Zack's face. "Say goodbye, pretty boy," Zack said, grinning down as he knelt over Joe and pressed the blade against Joe's chest. Joe closed his eyes and whispered, "God...Cait, I'm so sorry...." as the blade began to pierce his skin....and stopped. Joe opened his eyes to see two feathered shafts sticking out of Zack's chest, blood pouring down like rain. Shoving Zack's body off of him, Joe got up on one knee to see Caitlin slide down out of a tree, a crossbow in her  hands. She dropped the bow and went to her knees in the dewy grass and Joe ran to her, gasping at the pain in his shoulder and arm.

Caitlin looked up at Joe and cried out as he knelt beside her and pulled her to him. Holding each other carefully, they wept into one another's hair as the police boiled out of the house and onto the lawn.

******
Caitlin woke up in Joe's bed in his house in Dublin, his broken collarbone splinted against movement, his cuts sewn up and his bruises still vivid against his skin. His eyes opened and he smiled up at her and kissed her fingertips. "How long have you been up?" he asked.

"Just long enough to take some more pain pills and talk to Sav. You're a hero, you know," she said, gesturing to the piles of newspapers and magazines piled on the bedroom floor. "I think the boys are jealous."

"If they felt like I did right now, they wouldn't be," Joe said, wincing as his collarbone yelled at him from moving too much. "Are you okay? I mean, really OKAY?" he asked, looking deeply into her face.

"It's going to take time, lover, but I will be. And I have to find some way to thank you for saving me
again," she said, leaning down to kiss him. Joe returned the kiss and when they broke apart, he  said, "Well...if this castle suits my lady, will you live here with me? Try out being mine and mine alone?"

Caitlin smiled a smile that eclipsed the sun. "I will, my knight in....well, I will, Joseph Thomas Elliott."

With a care for each others bones and bruises, they made slow, sweet love as the sun rose over the Irish landscape.

~ The End ~

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